Chloe Nichols Memorial Scholarship Recipients

2014 Recipients

Alana Primes

Painting on Canvas:

I was really touched by Chloe’s story because I went to O.P.E. and have been a Girl Scout for over twelve years. I wanted to honor her memory by creating a piece of art that I felt represented the joy that Chloe brought to those around her. In order to do this I made sure to include some of the things that Chloe loved including butterflies, faeries, and the color pink. I have always loved anything to do with art and I love sharing it with others to make a positive impact on their lives. I love volunteering my time to help those around me and I am currently part of the Artist For A Cause Club at my school.

I am a graduate of San Dieguito Academy High School where my favorite subject was Art. When I was not at school or doing homework, I spent my free time working on art projects, participating in Girl Scouts, and running a local Venture Crew. When I wasn’t doing any of these things I was either hanging out with friends or enjoyed the outdoors. I go canoeing approximately 50 miles down the Colorado River every year for fun. I also love going horseback riding and playing laser tag with my friends as well as volunteering to help my community. I earned my Girl Scout Gold Award working on getting the City of Encinitas to install a safe pedestrian trial along Ranch Santa Fe Road. I also earned the Girl Scout Bronze and Silver Awards where I worked on projects with the Oceanside Humane Society and Rancho Coastal Humane Society.

I will be attending college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Fall 2014 where I will be majoring in Studio Art with a minor in Business. I plan on going on to graduate school to get my Masters in Fine Arts after my 4 years at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Natalie Fry

Drawing in Colored Pencil:

Natalie is a graduate of Canyon Crest Academy. Her favorite subjects include Foreign Language, Literature, and Art. She plans to attend University of California, Santa Barbara beginning the in the Fall 2014 where she will be studying Global Studies and Spanish. She will also continue her art.

Natalie spends her free time drawing, reading, babysitting and enjoying the outdoors. She loves working with children and hopes to continue to teach art to children. Additionally, Natalie enjoys volunteering, particularly in Spanish Speaking communities. She serves her church as a singer in the Teen Choir and, at her school, helped to create and present a TEDx Youth conference to high school students in San Diego County.

The artwork she submitted was created using colored pencil, inspired by her love of childhood imagination. She feels it was something Chloe would have also loved.

Natalie is grateful for this scholarship and is inspired by the Nichols family’s efforts to ensure that Chloe’s tragedy does not befall anyone else. Natalie plans to help share Chloe’s story in an effort to educate people about the importance of carefully investigating “black box” warnings on medications.

Ian Geckeler

Music – Performance and Composing:

Ian Geckeler, born and raised in San Diego, was home-schooled throughout elementary and middle school. Homeschooling offered a great freedom of curriculum and time, which gave Ian the opportunity to develop a
multitude of interests, both academic and extracurricular. In his 18 years, Ian has been an avid soccer player, musical theater performer, chess player, and rock climber, and currently enjoys cycling, rowing, writing and playing music, and math and science. Ian will be attending Washington University in St. Louis in the fall as an undeclared engineering major. He is proud and honored to receive the Chloe Nichols Scholarship, and is grateful for what it represents: Recognition of a creative spirit and an opportunity to stretch further in college. Ian plans to use the scholarship towards purchasing books for his classes. He is glad to represent Chloe and the foundation through the pursuit of his own creative and academic goals.

Meredith Zelaya

Landscape Drawing – Marker:

Meredith Zelaya, a recent senior from Crawford High School, will be attending UC Berkeley this upcoming fall. She plans to major in English and minor in either Visual Arts or Media Studies. Meredith enjoys spending time painting, drawing, reading, graphic designing, and volunteering. During her time in college, she plans to explore the field of journalism and hopes to eventually be able to study abroad.

Meredith’s creative work submission is a landscape drawing she created in her AP Studio Art class using regular markers that depicts some of the foliage on her high school’s campus, and was the inspiration for the rest of her AP Portfolio art pieces. She is thankful for being selected as a recipient of the Chloe Nichols Memorial Foundation Scholarship and will be using the award funds to help aid with her college tuition and expenses. Meredith is truly honored in receiving this award, and hopes to be a part of helping Chloe’s legacy live on throughout her future in college and beyond.

2013 Recipients

Olivia Hogelucht

Sculpture & Public Display Art:

Olivia is a senior at Canyon Crest Academy. Her favorite subjects include English and Art. Olivia plans to attend Point Loma Nazarene University Fall 2013 where she plans to major in Art and minor in English. She also plans to obtain her teaching credential in these areas, so she may teach Art and English classes at the high school level.

Olivia spends her free time surfing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, making videos, drawing, and taking pictures. Olivia started surfing at age nine and wakeboarding at age twelve. In the summer, she can often be found at the local beaches surfing with a few close friends or on Mission Bay wakeboarding. Additionally, she started snowboarding at age ten. During the winter months, she can be found spending her weekends snowboarding on Bear Mountain, Snow Summit, or Mammoth. She finds these activities to be a great way to keep in shape and enjoy the beautiful scenery that California has to offer. Additionally, Olivia enjoys volunteering.

The past few summers, Olivia has served as a volunteer at Camp Wana Kura. This camp is designed for children with Type 1 (childhood) Diabetes. Olivia finds that serving as a camp counselor has allowed her to help others through leading activities, providing encouragement and support, and fostering a safe, positive camp environment for the children. Olivia also teaches Sunday school at her local church, Bethlehem Lutheran Church. In this role, Olivia delivers a Bible lesson, directs a craft, serves a snack and supervises pre-school children ages 3-5. Through her volunteer experiences, Olivia has found that the more love she shares with others, the more love she receives in return.

Olivia considers it an incredible honor to be selected as a recipient for the Chloe Nichols Scholarship. Olivia’s creative submission, inspired by Chloe’s story, consists of a paper maché sculpture entitled, “Whimsical Wings.” The sculpture includes of a variety of whimsical butterflies that Olivia created out of paper maché. She designed, shaped, and painted these butterflies using a variety of wing formations and bright colors to convey a feeling of playfulness, happiness, and freedom. Olivia thanks the Chloe Nichols Foundation for honoring her with this scholarship and hopes to carry a little piece of Chloe’s potential on with her throughout her journey.

Nick Ferreirae

Performance – “When the Saints Come Marching In”:

Nick Ferreirae is a senior at San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas. He is a musician who plays mostly tenor saxophone and has been in school bands since fourth grade. He hopes to continue music in college and turn it into a career and is planning on majoring in jazz studies and mathematics. Some of his favorite books are On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, and Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. He enjoys listening to Tower of Power, Jack White, Miles Davis, and the Beatles. His favorite games are Monopoly, Catch Phrase, and Dominion. In the fall, Nick will be attending Tulane University in New Orleans.

Nick is delighted and humbled to receive the Chloe Nichols Memorial Scholarship and will be using the funds to help pay for college expenses such as tuition and saxophone lessons while at Tulane. He would like to help honor Chloe’s legacy by fostering creativity and art in his life as well as the lives of others around him. He is considering teaching in the future and hopes that he would be able to inspire the next generation to learn about the importance of music and art in general.

Amanda Cowles

Short Film – “Blown Away”:

Amanda Cowles, a senior at Canyon Crest Academy, will be attending the University of St. Andrews next year where she will be studying math and psychology with a minor in biology. ” The Chloe Nichols award will help me and my family pay for this prestigious University. I cannot thank the Foundation enough”.

Her creative work, “Blown Away”, is a video that she made with friends & her dog Blink. It is about being a kid and keeping your child like wonder in everything you do.

2012 Recipients

Kianna Eberle

Painting, Oil on Canvas:

Kianna Eberle is a senior at San Dieguito Academy who loves both visual art and writing. She has lived in San Diego all of her life, but next year she will be joining Oberlin College’s freshman class in Oberlin, Ohio. She plans on double majoring in Visual Arts and either English or Creative Writing. She is elated to be studying for four years in a such a creative, historical, and cultural hub.Kianna loves to spends her time drawing, painting, reading, writing, volunteering, and cooking. She loves to connect with others through all of these activities, whether that means sharing her thoughts and ideas through her work or sharing her time and compassion directly, both here and abroad. She has worked extensively under artist Gerrit Greve’s with his Arts for Healing program making art and helping organize a large benefit auction for Family Health Services of San Diego.Kianna is honored to have been awarded the Chloe Nichols memorial scholarship. She will be putting it towards her college tuition and expenses, following her dreams of studying art and literature at a liberal arts school. She is grateful to have the opportunity to go to such a special institution of higher education and cant wait to see where it takes her. She hopes to go into the field of writing and teaching while also continuing with her art and traveling to see as much of the world as possible.View Kianna’s oil on canvas work: Selfless Giving

Kyle Jensen

Theatrical Set Design:

Kyle Jensen is a recent graduate from Roosevelt High School in Fresno, CA. At Roosevelt High School Kyle was a part of Roosevelt School of the Arts. A magnet program that is dedicated on the visual and performing arts. The program has produced award winning alumni such as five times Tony Award winner Aundra McDonald. Kyle area of performing arts was instrumental music where he played saxophone with the Rough Rider Marching Band, concert band, and in the Latin Jazz Band. His work in the technical theatre world at Roosevelt School of the Arts is the reason why he got the scholarship. Technical theatre is the behind the scenes work when a play or musical is put on the stage such as the making of the sets to the lighting of the show. People who work back stage of a show are known as “Techies”Kyle has worked on numerous shows over these past few years ranging in different assignments and being a part of different theatre groups to expand his learning environment. His jobs included being the followspot operator for Cennterstage: Clovis Community Theatre in Clovis CA, for Wizard of Oz and Hello Dolly! At Good Company Players in Fresno CA, Kyle was the Prop Tart for Beau Jest. At Roosevelt School of the Arts his memorable shows includes; Flyline Operator for Thoroughly Modern Mille, Sound Board Operator for Harvey, and Backstage runner for Disney’s Aladdin Jr. and the Dairy of Anne Frank and in the fall of 2011 Kyle was the Stage Manager and Sound Designer for the Learned Ladies. Kyle has received a good number of awards and recognition for his work in technical theatre, including receiving Techie of the Year at Roosevelt School of the Arts two times in back to back years. Receiving it in 2011 and 2012. Kyle was only the fourth person in all of Roosevelt School of the Arts thirty year history receiving this award.Kyle will be attending California State University, Fresno in the fall of 2012 as a Theatre Arts: Design/Tech major with an emphasis in Stage Managing and a minor in music. Kyle would like to thank the members of the Chloe Nichols Foundation for selecting him as a recipient of this award. He greatly appreciates being recognize for his hard work and looks forward to use the money towards his education and pursing his career. Kyle hopes to do whatever he can so that the memory of Chloe Nichols will live on throughout the years to come in college and in the professional world.See a sample of Kyle’s set design work

2011 Recipients

Thea Brown

Creative Writing: “Please, Fasten Your Seatbelts”

Thea Brown is a high school senior at San Dieguito Academy who has had an infatuation with telling stories for as long as she could remember. This fondness for storytelling has led Thea to write numerous short stories and poems, all reflecting her desire to simply say what’s on her mind. Through working at the UCSD Young Writers Camp for the past two years and taking creative writing courses at her high school, Thea has worked at developing her skills and continuing her passion.

Come next fall Thea will be studying at the University of California, Berkeley with a major in Political Science and a minor in English. She hopes to teach English abroad for several years before joining the State Department to be involved with International Diplomacy.

Thea greatly appreciates the Chloe Nichols Foundation for helping pay for a portion of her education next year, covering some of the expenses of her books and rooming fees. Thea hopes that she will live her life in a way that will bring honor to the Nichols family, and in someway help Chloe live on.

Chase Morrin

Composer: “Pues”

Pianist and composer, Chase Morrin, 17, is graduating from Canyon Crest Academy and will be moving to the residential halls at Harvard on his 18th birthday. He was admitted to five-year double degree program with Harvard University and the New England Conservatory (Bachelor’s at Harvard in math or science class of 2015/Master’s at NEC in jazz composition class of 2016).

Chase’s many accomplishments include three ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) Young jazz Composer awards; eight national DownBeat Magazine awards for composition, arranging and creating/directing his own groups; and the Gerald Wilson award by the Monterey Jazz Festival where his composition will be performed by the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra in 2011. Before moving, Chase will be playing on a cruise ship from San Francisco to Alaska, going on a west-coast tour with the Next Generation Monterey Jazz Orchestra (selected as the pianist after a nationwide audition), and recording an original CD with his trio.

Chase is thrilled and honored to receive the Chloe Nichols Memorial Scholarship. He hopes to use the scholarship to help pay for his studio lesson costs with the New England Conservatory and additional musical expenses such as the recording project to create his CD. Chase hopes to share, connect and inspire his audiences with his music. You learn more about Chase at www.chasemorrin.com.